What Kind of Teammate are You?
Posted On May 1, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
One of the themes that comes up in all of our leadership communication workshops is the concept of “how to be a good teammate.” People always seem interested in the steps towards being a better leader and a better teammate. First do this… then do this… then do this… People like specific steps, and information […]
Teach Them to Fly, Part 2: Instilling Confidence and Courage
Posted On April 21, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
A little more than a year ago, I wrote a short post here about the importance of instilling confidence in the people around you. I used a vignette about my son to make the point — a little story about how he was still young enough to not care about what other people thought. And […]
Your Slide Deck is Nothing But Risk, Part 2
Posted On April 14, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
A little while back, I wrote a post called Your Slide Deck is Nothing But Risk. It’s caused a lot of discussion — in our workshops, in discussions with our clients, and in some of the social media where we spend time. It’s a premise that has cause a lot of people to furrow their […]
Be Clear and #MakeYourPoint
Posted On April 1, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
I just returned from a two-week trip to Shanghai and Singapore, where we conducted several training workshops for two different top clients. Our workshops were full of people from China, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Britain, India, Belgium, Turkey, and Germany. It was a global group, with all of them reporting to global executives. Work […]
Don’t Compromise Your Communication Efforts, Ever
Posted On March 31, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
We coach people to be as persuasive and powerful in their communication as possible. But sometimes, your audience is just not open to what you have to say. Our clients often share experiences where the audience is not always open minded. Some of our clients tell us, “They don’t want to hear that from me,” […]
Communication Lessons from the Road, Part 3
Posted On March 27, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
Last post of the week… I’m running to the airport now to begin the long trip home from Singapore. It’s been a great trip, but I’m excited to head home. I love being home, but I also love what international travel does for my approach to my business. I love being forced to stretch boundaries […]
Communication Lessons from the Road, Part 2
Posted On March 25, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
In our last post, we talked about the undeniable benefits of having a broad perspective on communication and having a high sensitivity for audience understanding. Global travel is a great way to broaden your perspective and to realize the vastly different ways people communicate. We believe firmly in audience understanding as a mission critical component […]
Communication Lessons from the Road, Part 1
Posted On March 24, 2014 BY Dean Brenner
Greetings from Singapore, where I’m doing a week of corporate communication training for two of our favorite clients. This follows up a week in Shanghai for the same two clients. International travel is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. It’s exhausting to travel this far from home, for two straight weeks of day-long workshops. When I get […]
How to Be A Great Teammate
Posted On May 8, 2012 BY Dean Brenner
I spoke at my former university recently, as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the school’s sailing team, which I’d been part of at one time. The organizers asked me to say a few words about team building and team culture, as they know it’s a subject I’ve been spending a lot of time […]
Willingness to Work
Posted On February 15, 2012 BY Dean Brenner
This, the last component in our ARROW equation on strong team alignment, is probably the easiest to grasp. On an aligned team, the members of the team are all willing to roll up their sleeves and actually do the hard work to get a positive outcome. It is one thing to understand roles, be respectful, […]